Month: August 2017

It’s because of Dean James comments on Golden Age Detection fb page. About having a mini binge on Gladys Mitchell’s Mrs. Bradley mysteries. That set me off on a re-read of one of my favourites of the series…Laurels Are Poison, for the third time.

The setting is a Ladies Teaching College, where one of the wardens of the ladies halls goes missing at the end of term dance. The college has asked Mrs. Bradley to step into the missing wardens place in Athelstan Hall and look into the matter.

Plenty of odd things happening within the house and in the area, not least of which is murder.

Full of a colourful cast of character (some of them will turn up in later books), in a well plotted and descriptive written mystery, that will draw you into the story from the first page and hold you until the last.

If you get a chance of reading any of the series, they are well worth reading.

Storybook style, fairy tale, Disneyesque, Hansel and Gretel–these are all synonyms for what is surely the most delightful residential style of the twentieth century. With their romantic evocation of faraway lands and eras, storybook homes were created by architects and builders with a flair for theater, a love of fine craftsmanship, and above all a sense of humor–attributes that make them especially endearing to the jaded modern eye. The storybook style was born on the backlots of Hollywood in the 1920s, where brilliant set designers first learned to evoke the exotic architecture of medieval Europe and the Middle East. Movie-going Americans became fascinated with these settings, and architects and builders were quick to capitalize on this enthusiasm. The whimsical style soon spread from coast to coast, and the unforgettable results are portrayed here.

These Storybook style (also know as Whimsy) homes, are shown in these beautiful photographs. With the potted history of how they came about during the 1920’s, when Hollywood was Hollywoodland, and the movie industry was just taking off. The area was a blank canvas for building New select homes, with the mish mash of styles taken from Europe, and by using theatrics and craftsmen to create and conjure up these beautiful homes.

This stunning book is for anyone that loves ‘Home & Garden’ magazine, or just like me, like’s being plain nosey!

Would be perfect to grace any coffee table.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book. Published by Schiffer Publishing, and downloaded via NetGalley.

The Sierra Nevada Mountains, which many consider the most beautiful range in the world, don’t easily reveal their treasures, but this photographic compilation, the result of over 30 backpacking trips in the remote high country, reveals the spirit and beauty of a national gem through brilliant images.

Focusing on carefully selected landscapes captured from virtually impossible vantage points, the photographs reflect a genuine Sierra back-country experience. Witness the disappearing edges between water and rocks at Lake Aloha, the scant vegetation peeking out between slabs of smooth granite in Cherry Creek Canyon, and read about the natural processes that led to the creation of waterfalls, glaciers, and lakes.

The painstakingly crafted compositions demonstrate how light can determine the way one sees and remembers a landscape. Musings about the Sierra Nevada by naturalists, mountaineers, and writers, including John Muir, Norman Clyde, Jane Wilson Howarth, and Jack Kerouac, complement the arresting photography.

A book of an area, that many will never visit.

With breathe taking pictures, that allow your imagination soar.

The sheer beauty of the pictures, is a must for any armchair traveller.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book. Published by Schiffer Publishing, and downloaded via NetGalley.

Although this was only the sample of the first chapter of the 5th and final Lockwood and Co. series, it left me wanting more!

The story starts with the gang trying to find the entrance to the tomb of the late Marissa Fittes, the first and greatest psychic investigator and founder of the Fittes Agency.

But rumour has it that she isn’t dead, but is alive and well and pretending to be her supposed grand-daughter, Penelope Fittes. The same Penelope Fittes who is head of the Fittes Agency and probably the most powerful person in London.

Lockwood & Co. are about to find out if it is true or not…

The Lockwood & Co series are a spooky, fun filled series…and not to be missed.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book. Published by Penguin Random House UK/Corgi Children’s and download via NetGalley.